Demolition approved after Leeds boy's fall death

Myles ‘Mylo’ Johnstone, who was 14 and from Bramley, was pronounced dead at the scene after an accident while apparently playing with friends at Canal Wharfe on Wyther Lane last month.

Landmark Estates Limited will knock down the warehouse and a separate office building after Leeds City Council formally confirmed it has no objections. Coun Alice Smart (Lab, Armley), said: “I’m sure local residents will be pleased that the warehouse is being demolished and I hope in future this site will be used in a way that benefits the local community.

“But the problem doesn’t begin and end with this one site. There are disused buildings across Armley and their owners have a responsibility to take action to make sure another accident doesn’t happen.”

Her colleague Coun Jim McKenna said that it was “a good start and hopefully it will be done quickly as we are now in the school holidays and young boys have time on their hands.”

He hopes that other owners will now secure their buildings.

A council planning officer report reads that the demolition was sought after the accident “to remove the buildings to omit any future incidents as a result of unlawful entry”.

But the Leeds-based developer’s managing director Richard Murray has previously told the YEP that the demolition order has its roots in a homes plan for the plot submitted in September last year.